# does humid air rise or fall



## sptcigars (Oct 23, 2007)

Hello. I probably have only posted here a couple of times. maybe I should spend more time here and less on another forum. any way I have an important question regarding my new closet humidor and humidity. I recently finished a small walk in. All cedar, and ready for humidification. bought a humidifresh. this thing should be capable of supplying ample humidity(70%) at a max of 70 cu ft. that's what my closet it. so I ran this thing for about a week from the floor. nothing was going on too much. I called the manufacturer and he told me that humid air falls so I needed to put the box up high. He told me that it would probably take two weeks before the closet was balanced. So I did this, I put the box up around my eye level; 5'9. It ran and ran. About a week later I decided that this needed some help b/c it was just running and I was using a lot of water. Talking with a friend of mine, he says, humid air rises and that's why the humidity at the top of my closet was 68-70 but the bottom was 48%. he told me that I needed to do the opposite as I was told by the dealer and I neede to run my circulation fan constantly to get the air moving. OK. I hear that but in the mean time what I did was put a smaller unit on the bottom of the closet; the moist n aire. you know of it Im sure. so Im running both even though I only want to run one and my fan is going on a timer. Its been a little over two weeks and I am seeing results but not what I want. the closet is starting to balance but only at 67-68. This is for long term storage and I want at least 70% in here. my friend told me I should put the larger humidifresh on the bottom(because humid air rises) SO, this is my question. No doubt with both the humidifresh and the moist n aire, I pretty much handled the problem but if the closet can maintain off one unit and not too, that saves me electricity and water. SO does humid air rise, or does it fall ?


----------



## Giltneda (Apr 15, 2009)

Humid air is lighter:

FAQ Air chemistry and physics

Water is H2O. This is a lighter molecule than N2 or O2 which is 98% of air. So humid air is less dense thus it rises.

But I don't know that it should change that much in an enclosed closet. The air should mix and be pretty uniform.


----------



## karmaz00 (Dec 5, 2007)

agree with above..i usually have little fans ciculating the air. so its spread out


----------



## RCReecer (Apr 28, 2008)

Don't tell my humidor, but my humidity is lower at the bottom of my cabinet than at the thop. About a 3% difference, using calibrated digital hygrometers. I thought about adding fans, but I like the variation. Some smokes like a little more humiditiy than others, so I can put them in the humidor accordingly.


----------



## GlockG23 (Mar 7, 2009)

RCReecer said:


> Don't tell my humidor, but my humidity is lower at the bottom of my cabinet than at the thop. About a 3% difference, using calibrated digital hygrometers. I thought about adding fans, but I like the variation. Some smokes like a little more humiditiy than others, so I can put them in the humidor accordingly.


100% agree with you, and I just thought I was nuts! Some cigar like 63% and some need 68% and some need tossed in the trash.

A side not *sptcigars* please break up your long paragraphs. This will make things easier to read bud, but good question!



sptcigars said:


> maybe I should spend more time here and less on another forum.


 This is true



sptcigars said:


> I was told by the dealer and I neede to run my circulation fan constantly to get the air moving.


 not true in my opinion 2 or 3 min every 15 or so should be good if you use one



sptcigars said:


> SO does humid air rise, or does it fall ?


 rise slowly if your temp is were it should be


----------



## BillyCigars (Nov 17, 2007)

RCReecer said:


> Don't tell my humidor, but my humidity is lower at the bottom of my cabinet than at the thop. About a 3% difference, using calibrated digital hygrometers. I thought about adding fans, but I like the variation. Some smokes like a little more humiditiy than others, so I can put them in the humidor accordingly.


Also totally agree. Like you, Sptcigars, I had the same issue. In fact, just last week, I started rotating my hygrometer around the humi to test for different humidification levels. I have my Hydra unit near the middle and have a couple of Oust fans to keep things fairly evened out.

The sticks at the top of my humi were starting to taste a bit dry, so I moved the hygro up to the very top and it actually read +3% higher! What's interesting is that at both Davidoff on Madison (NYC) and Nat Sherman (also NYC), the humidification units are placed on the ceiling and the humid air "falls". Perhaps in an environment where this a lot of air movement (whether by foot trafffic or fans) it matters less where the unit is placed than if its in an a closed unit...


----------



## LeroyBagdadis (Apr 26, 2009)

Would where you place your humidification device matter in a smaller desktop humidor with only one removable tray?


----------



## GlockG23 (Mar 7, 2009)

LeroyBagdadis said:


> Would where you place your humidification device matter in a smaller desktop humidor with only one removable tray?


A smaller desktop humidor, anywhere is fine


----------



## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

Well... all of this is _partly _true. Water (H2O) is, molecularly lighter than air. If it weren't, it would never rain. However, once you get some mass to it, like blowing it out of an (unheated) humidifier, it isn't. The reason that most whole-store humidifiers are in or near the ceiling, is to compensate for blowing out heavy (albeit tiny) droplets. In order for water to truly " vaporize" and rise, it needs to be slightly warmer than ambient temp. The only way to get water to do what it's supposed to at ambient temps, is to evaporate it. This is how bricks, beads and water pillows work. Big, whole store blowers are essentially "misting" and mist is heavier. Hydras and Oasis units are just fans paired with evaporating media, so the fan simply circulates the evaporated water.

Another thing to consider is the material you used to line the closet. If it's standard, board cedar, it's been dired, probably artificially, so it's definitely going to take some time to remoisturize it. Also, how sure are you that you acheived a perfect seal in the closet? This is no mean feat and could be an issue.


----------

